BP announces compensation deal

Energy firm promises relief for people hit by oil spill after White House negotiations.

BP executives meeting in White House with President Barack Obama

A compensation deal on the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was reached on Wednesday after the energy company’s high-level executives held negotiations behind closed doors with the White House for four hours.

BP has promised to pay $20bn in compensation to victims of the disaster.

The company also cancelled dividend payments to shareholders for the rest of the year.

But oil has been leaking for two months now and BP was only able to contain less than half of the oil that was gushing into the sea from the damaged well.

Al Jazeera’s Tom Ackerman reports on the compensation deal.

Source: Al Jazeera